Maximum Width of Binary Tree
A medium-tier problem at 44% community acceptance, tagged with Tree, Depth-First Search, Breadth-First Search. Reported in interviews at Flipkart and 0 others.
Maximum Width of Binary Tree shows up on Flipkart assessments and catches people off-guard because the "width" definition isn't what you'd guess. You're not counting nodes at the widest level. You're measuring the distance between the leftmost and rightmost node at each level, including empty positions in between. The acceptance rate sits at 44%, which means nearly half the candidates who attempt it struggle. Most fail because they try to count actual nodes instead of calculating positions. If you haven't seen the indexing trick before, this problem will stall you during a live OA. StealthCoder is the hedge for when the pattern doesn't click under time pressure.
Companies that ask "Maximum Width of Binary Tree"
Maximum Width of Binary Tree is the kind of problem that decides whether you pass. StealthCoder reads the problem on screen and surfaces a working solution in under 2 seconds. Invisible to screen share. The proctor sees nothing. Made by a working FAANG engineer who treats the OA the way companies treat hiring: as a game with rules you should know.
Get StealthCoderThe trick is assigning each node a position index as if it were a complete binary tree: left child at 2*i, right child at 2*i+1. Then for each level, subtract the minimum index from the maximum to get the width. A naive counting approach doesn't work because a skewed tree can have width 1 at every level, but sparse trees can have enormous widths. BFS and DFS both work, but BFS is cleaner because you process level by level and can track indices directly. The common pitfall is integer overflow if you don't handle large indices carefully, or miscalculating the width formula. Depth-First Search gets the job done too if you track levels properly, but many candidates second-guess themselves on which traversal is faster. During your assessment, if the position indexing doesn't pop immediately, StealthCoder will surface a working BFS solution in seconds, invisible to the proctor.
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Maximum Width of Binary Tree recycles across companies for a reason. It's medium-tier, and most candidates blank under the timer. StealthCoder is the hedge: an AI overlay invisible during screen share. It reads the problem and surfaces a working solution in under 2 seconds. Made by a working FAANG engineer who treats the OA the way companies treat hiring: as a game with rules you should know. Works on HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Karat.
Maximum Width of Binary Tree interview FAQ
What exactly counts as 'width' here?+
Width at any level is the distance between the leftmost and rightmost node at that level, measured in positions as if the tree were a perfect binary tree. So a single root node has width 1, but a tree where the root has only a right child has width 2. You're counting positions, not nodes.
Do I really need BFS or can DFS work?+
Both work. BFS is more intuitive because you process one level at a time and track indices naturally. DFS requires you to track the level and the minimum/maximum index seen at each level, which adds bookkeeping. Most solutions lean BFS, but DFS is valid if you're comfortable with it.
Is this problem still asked at real companies?+
Flipkart reports asking it. It's not a household FAANG favorite, but it appears in take-homes and mid-level technical screens. The 44% acceptance rate suggests it's moderately hard, not a gimme.
What's the trap that tanks submissions?+
Trying to count actual nodes instead of calculating positions. Or miscounting the width formula. Also, some candidates don't handle the index math correctly and end up with off-by-one errors or integer overflow on sparse trees with very deep right subtrees.
How does this relate to general Tree and Binary Tree knowledge?+
It tests your ability to think about tree structure abstractly using indexing, not just traversal. That skill transfers to heap problems, segment trees, and other index-based tree questions. It's not pure traversal, it's spatial reasoning about the tree.
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